The real issue at hand is not solely of job creation but also of creation of quality jobs | The Indian Express

The real issue at hand is not solely of job creation but also of creation of quality jobs | The Indian Express

Written by Krishnamurthy Subramanian |Updated: March 30, 2019 9:07:48 am

The writer teaches finance at the Indian School of Business and was a member of the RBI committee on governance of bank boards.

The real issue at hand is not solely of job creation but also of creation of quality jobs

The true meaning of being a worker is shifting — towards stable, productive, remunerative employment. This must be captured in collection of labour data, and while interpreting and analysing it for policy-making

As the domestic labour market is becoming increasingly sensitive to national and global economic factors, policymakers felt the need to construct labour statistics at more frequent intervals.

India is currently witnessing an intensive debate over the question of jobs created in the economy, both in terms of quantity and quality. In the past five years, India has experienced a high level of GDP growth. In this backdrop, it is only befitting to ask the question if this growth has been accompanied by the creation of meaningful jobs. This question cannot be examined without current and reliable data on labour indicators. Despite the existence of multiple sources of employment data such as the Employment Unemployment Survey (EUS) of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and Labour Bureau’s Quarterly Employment Survey, etc., Indian employment data has been available only at long-term intervals, often over five years.